Our View: Competition, urgency for sports plan grow

Thursday

Dec 12, 2013 at 4:02 PMDec 12, 2013 at 4:02 PM

Rockford Register Star Editorial

Plans are well underway for a $17.3 million sports complex in Peoria. The Peoria Sports Center would have 10 outdoor athletic fields for baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse and a 125,000-square-foot dome.

The developers hope to entice players who are within a six-hour drive of Peoria.

Peoria is a 2½-hour drive from Rockford and will be competing for the same youth sports tournaments that now take place here — and the tournaments Rockford hopes to host in the future.

Thus the urgency to complete the Reclaiming First sports plan. Rockford saw an 11 percent drop from 2007 to 2010 in number of tournaments hosted here. Other communities are building or adding facilities, and the competition for the youth sports dollar continues to increase. If Rockford wants to remain a leader in recreational tournaments, it must do more than keep up — it must move ahead. It needs a bold plan such as Reclaiming First.

The highlights of Reclaiming First are that the Rockford Park District will turn Sportscore Two into a sports complex with additional soccer fields and softball fields and would turn the former Ingersoll building in downtown Rockford into an indoor sports complex that could host basketball, volleyball, and other tournaments and events.

Reclaiming First has cleared the biggest of its financial hurdles. Money is coming from the city of Rockford, state grants, the Rockford Park District and receipts from a 2 percent increase to the hotel tax. The project still hopes to get money from Winnebago County, Cherry Valley and Machesney Park.

Yes, it's pricey. To fully implement the plan from downtown to Loves Park would cost nearly $50 million. However, you can't reclaim first with second-rate facilities. The money spent will be worth it.

Sports tourism adds about $15.25 million annually to the local economy. It puts $1.85 million of taxes into local governments and adds the equivalent of 226 full-time jobs. Reclaiming First has the potential to double those numbers.

Most of the discussion about the sports plan has been about tourism, getting people to come to town, stay at a hotel, eat at local restaurants, shop at local stores, etc. As Reclaiming First moves forward, the benefits for local residents should not be overlooked.

The new and improved facilities will be used by local athletes. It will mean fewer trips out of town for tournaments, and the new facilities will be used by recreational athletes in Park District and other programs.

Anyone who has been involved with youth basketball and volleyball knows how difficult it is to find court time for practices and exhibition games. The more space, the more opportunity for local athletes to practice and play. It also gives the Park District space to add to its ample array of programs for local folks.

Reclaiming First was first presented to us a little more than two years ago. If all goes well, the Ingersoll building will be open for games in the fall of 2015. It's been a long time, but good things are worth waiting for.